Greenland students get life lessons through chess

GREENLAND — A Portsmouth Rotary program aimed at promoting the game of chess and commemorating the life of a man who died too soon found its way to the Central School on Tuesday.

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By Joey Cresta

seacoastonline.com

By Joey Cresta

Posted Jan. 30, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Joey Cresta
Posted Jan. 30, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

GREENLAND — A Portsmouth Rotary program aimed at promoting the game of chess and commemorating the life of a man who died too soon found its way to the Central School on Tuesday.

Jeremy Alex was a troubled young man who disappeared in 2004. He was 28 years old and struggling with drug addiction when he wandered into the Maine woods. He was never seen again and is presumed dead.

For the past seven years, the Portsmouth Rotary Club, through its Jeremy Alex Fund, has provided chess sets to fourth-graders in Portsmouth schools. Chess was one of Alex's great passions, and his father, Ted Alex, said he has no way of knowing the effect the donations have made, but he hopes the children who learn to play chess thanks to the Rotary's donations will gain insight into the importance of being aware of consequences.

"Chess is like life. You make moves (and) when you make moves, you need to think about things," he said.

On Tuesday, for the first time, the Rotary expanded its chess program beyond Portsmouth and donated chess sets to fourth-graders at Greenland Central School.

There, Rotarian John Hebert engaged 10-year-old Bryce Sturtevant in a game played on an oversized chessboard.

Just a few days earlier, Hebert said, he found himself checkmated by a student at Mary C. Dondero School in Portsmouth. He said it was the first time since he started doing the chess presentations that a student was able to checkmate him.

Sturtevant was unable to do the same before time ran out, but he was able to play an even match against Hebert. Boys and girls circled the chessboard and inched closer throughout the match, whispering words of advice to Sturtevant and exclaiming when either he or Hebert made a bad move.

"It was pretty awesome," Sturtevant said afterward.

The match provided Hebert with an opportunity to teach those who were less familiar with chess the particulars of the game. He taught them the moves of the individual pieces, how "check" and "checkmate" work and more advanced tactics such as castling.

"Is it really as confusing as it seems?" one girl asked him.

Steve Norton, a fifth- and sixth-grade science teacher at Central School who coaches the school's chess team, said he was glad the Rotary made the donation to students who may otherwise not have been exposed to the game.

"I think they should have chess in the curriculum," he said, citing the many benefits the game has on developing minds. He said it instills confidence, fosters reasoning skills and promotes good sportsmanship.

The donation of 44 chess sets with magnetic pieces cost about $800 and was made possible thanks to Rotarian Butch Ricci, a Greenland resident whose daughter, Anna, is in the fourth grade at Central School.